Analysis of the formulation process of the Mais Médicos Program

Abstract

This study analyzes the formulation process of the More Doctors Program (Programa Mais Médicos - PMM), to answer the following questions: (1) Why was the PMM formulated with its specific format and (2) which actors, ideas, and institutions influenced its formulation process. To do so, we examine the solutions the public debate proposed to the medical supply and training insufficiencies from the 1960s until the creatin of the PMM. Based on process tracing, this study analyzed bibliographic, documentary, and interview data. Studies on political process and the theory of gradual institutional change formed its theoretical background. Results showed that the government significantly modified the program design from its proposal until its approval. The favorable scenario, characterized by the popular and political approval of the Program, together with its formulators’ strategic actions, enabled the expansion of its scope, approaching the principles which the health movement policy community defended. Finally, previously implemented policies and its main formulators’ ideas influenced its format.